SemanticMD AI for TB

Automatically detects tuberculosis and 14 other indications in chest X-rays

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2015, more than 10 million
people fell ill with TB and 1.8 million died from the disease.

Chest X-rays (CXR) play a crucial role in TB diagnosis, especially in the case of pulmonary TB
(PTB), which is one of the most common presentations of TB. Although CXRs do not provide ground
truth for confirming TB, they still offer a high sensitivity method for detecting TB-related
abnormalities in the lungs (scars, opacities, pleural effusion, etc.). In addition, since CXRs
provide a low-cost, rapid examination even in remote settings, it has been recognized as a powerful
screening test for TB, especially in areas and populations with higher disease burden.

While the cost of acquiring a CXR has become much more affordable, the interpretation of CXR scans
is currently limited by cost and access to trained radiologists. Hence, there are many patients that
get diagnosed too late and unable to treat their symptoms using conventional TB antibiotics.

Solution**

We developed AI for TB to improve the quality and efficiency of chest X-ray screening programs. Benefits of SemanticMD AI include:

AI is fine-tuned to be specific to local patient populations

Cost-efficient compared to teleradiology

Rapid reading and reporting (<1 second per scan)

Useful for screening and triage of patients with multiple symptoms

Sensitivity and specificity equivalent to an expert radiologist

Can be used offline in remote, low-power areas

**Not available for diagnostic use in the U.S.

Technical Specifications

Deep learning technologies enable the efficient training and deployment of AI for TB screening. Our
algorithm
is trained on a growing database of thousands of images from the U.S., India, China, Eastern Europe,
and
South Africa. Based on this analysis a score for each patient is computed.

The software can run automatically after a digital X-ray is captured. We support DICOM and HL7
standards to route images which enable integration with PACS, EHR and other hospital IT
infrastructure. Our software can be deployed in the cloud or run offline.

Product Resources

AI for TB Product Guide

Learn how our AI solutions can help you reduce costs and improve accuracy in your TB screening
programs

AI for TB API

AI Reporting

Learn how SemanticMD AI can help reduce reporting time and provide an instant second opinion.

References

AI for TB has been developed using SemanticMD's proprietary AI platform spun out of Carnegie Mellon
University. In an effort to provide the best possible care for patients, we work with the top
researchers and academic partners to continually refine our algorithms. Below are some papers from
our technical advisor, Dr. Paras Lakhani: